The Gorgon Tongue is a reissue of two earlier Horseback albums, Impale Golden Throne and Forbidden Planet. Most fans are familiar with Horseback's LP "The Invisible Mountain" but these works came out earlier and the sludge metal elements present are absent from these in favor of more ambient and drone pieces.
The first part of Gorgon Tongue, Impale Golden Throne, is made up of four ambient noise tracks that are very textured. These are long, trance-like tracks that are very beautiful. The listener can either space out and get lost in it, or focus on the intricate details that the sole writer, Jenks Miller, has put into the music. Each song moves and evolves even if it does not appear that way on the surface. There is something new to hear on each listen.
The remaining 6 tracks make up Forbidden Planet. This is a stark contrast to the first part of the album as these are intense and dark sounding tracks with screamed vocals and haunting effects over it. The indecipherable shrieked vocals heard on The Invisible Mountain are present here. The songs are split up for accessibility but they place seamlessly and it is hard to tell where one stops and another starts if one is not paying attention.
While I enjoyed the first part more than the second, this is an all around wonderful release but it does take a large amount of patience to really enjoy this album. Fans of drone or noise will enjoy this but fans looking for The Invisible Mountain should probably skip this one and listen to Halfblood but I do recommend giving it a try. The Gorgon Tongue displays Jenks Miller's versatile writing and intricate musicianship. It is a very impressive release.
